Catching one sturgeon is tough enough, but for a couple to land one each in one day of fishing, that’s extremely rare.

But that’s what Joe Freund and Ana Mendez of Buena Park did last week. They were using light line and baiting live night crawlers when they landed huge sturgeon while fishing on the west side of the Lake Cuyamaca Finger Jetty. Joe’s sturgeon went 18 pounds, 12 ounces, and Ana’s weighed 23 pounds, 4 ounces. They caught the lunkers on 6-pound test line.

Known more for its trout, Cuyamaca busted out another big bass last week, too, when ranger Jay Blaylock, fishing on his time off, caught and released a 10-pound, 8-ounce bass. Trout fishing remains solid at Cuyamaca in the wake of trout plants from the Department of Fish and Wildlife, Mt. Lassen and Jess Ranch.

At Lake Hodges, Tom Leedom and Matt Menzel won the El Cajon Ford Day Series tournament with a stringer of five bass totaling 30.06 pounds, with a big bass hefting 6.45 pounds. They used square-billed crankbaits in the Narrows. Stu Hinkle and Ed Woods finished second with five bass totaling 21.30 pounds, but topped their stringer with a 7.12-pound big bass. The next El Cajon Ford Day Series tournament is May 4, but in between there’s the first El Cajon Night Series tournament set for April 27 at El Capitan. For information on day and night tournaments, call Jim Sleight at (619) 447-0244 or email him at jsleight3@cox.net or check www.sdteamseries.com.

Santee Lakes has started its catfish season with a bang, turning out limits of catfish from Lakes 3, 6 and 7. Lakes 6 and 7 are campers-only lakes. Check www.santeelakes.com for lakefront camping or cabin information. Bass fishing also is exceptional right now at Lakes 1 and 2. The next catfish stocking is April. 26 with 1,000 pounds set for the lakes.

Lake Jennings starts its night fishing program May 17. The lake is being stocked with channel catfish, with 2,000 pounds set to arrive the last week of April.

Ocean fishermen are staying busy with a good rockfish bite. The Coronado Islands remain up and down for yellowtail. John Yamate, manager and part owner of Seaforth Sportfishing, has landed five yellowfin tuna over 200 pounds aboard a long-range trip on the Royal Polaris.

Eddie “Flathead Ed” Wilcox was asleep in a cot on his 24-foot pontoon boat on April 12 at Bartlett Lake northwest of Phoenix in the Tonto National Forest when a giant flathead catfish bit his line and woke him up. Wilcox, 56, arose from his slumber to land the giant catfish, a 76.52-pound flathead that measured 53.5 inches long and sported a 34.75-inch girth. It’s the heaviest fish of any species to be landed in Arizona.

The 34th Annual Day at the Docks, a celebration of the sea and the unique, local sportfishing industry, is Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Point Loma sportfishing landings. Admission and parking are free. Dozens of vendors, fishing seminars, boat rides on sport boats and cooking demonstrations all day long.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation will pump in $2.9 million for elk and wildlife-related conservation projects in the U.S. this year in the 27 states with wild, free-ranging elk populations. California will get $327,000 of it, second only to Wyoming’s $481,285. Another $570,000 will go to hunting heritage programs.